Grab your pens and a couple of copies of the new GHOULASH Original Paper Game and get ready to start destroying the giant, green monsters that threaten mankind. This version, played entirely on paper using specially designed grids, is a battle you can wage anywhere, anytime. All you need are a couple of the game books (one for each player), and a couple of pencils or pens. Play GHOULASH at the beach, at the park, at school, at work, at your local gaming group. Play in the waiting room, or in line for a movie, or in-between classes. Give a couple of books to the kids to play in the back seat on a long car ride.

The world of GHOULASH all started with the Paper Game: In 1982, writer and game designer Mike Suchcicki wanted to design a role-playing game that could be played by only two people.

"Most RPGs feature a game master, or dungeon master, who controls the game for a group of players," Mike says. "I wanted something that easily could be played by just two people, with each player acting as game master for the other."

The post-apocalyptic scenario he designed for the game, with zombies chasing after the hapless players, evolved into a world infested by the giant, green monsters known as Ghouls.

"In my notes I had written down the word 'ghoulish.' When I looked at the notes later, I read the word as 'ghoulash,' and the name, and the concept of Ghouls, stuck," Mike says.

That two-person RPG, GHOULASH: The Last Game on Earth, refined and streamlined and posted on Ghoulash.com, was downloaded and played by gamers around the world, and was translated by fans into six languages (including Hungarian Ghoulash!). The game has been used by teachers as an aid to teach everything from math to English as a second language. It's been featured and reprinted in magazines in the U.S., Great Britain and Australia.

Marco Statua, a GHOULASH player from Italy, calls it, "the perfect game!"

"Cannot express how much I love this game!" says Brent Millis from Japan.

In February we released a new, faster, easier-to-play version of the original paper game. The 5-by-8-inch paperback features more than 60 games spread across six different grids.

How it works: Players open their books to one of the grid layouts on facing pages. On one grid, players hide the items and obstacles indicated: Six Ghouls, five Holes, five Debris and three First-Aid. That grid becomes their Obstacle Grid. The other grid is their Movement Grid. On their turn, they indicate to their opponent what square they'd like to enter. The opponent follows along on their Obstacle Grid and tells them what they have encountered.

If the player encounters a Ghoul, they have to fight it, attempting to guess its Weak Spot. If they guess correctly, the Ghoul is destroyed, but for every miss they receive a wound. If a player receives 12 wounds before finding First-Aid, they have died and their opponent wins.

But if you survive your Ghoul battles and are the first to destroy all six Ghouls, you win!

Gather your friends and prepare for some Ghoul-hunting excitement with the GHOULASH Card Game, a fast-paced frenzy of action and adventure for 2 to 4 players. Players race to gain Victory Points by battling the giant, green, deadly Ghouls that are roaming the corridors of an obstacle-filled office building.Along the way there are dangers and setbacks and the Bystanders, who desperately need your help.

In the game you will assume the identity of one of the world’s top Ghoul Hunters. Each character has Specialties, based on their expertise, background and personality, that set them apart and give them an edge over the others. (Mouse over portraits below for an introduction.)

The reckless, devil-may-care and world-renowned expert on Ghouls and Malectoplasm who often finds his way out of tough fixes by sheer good luck.

Creator of the Ghoul-destroying substance Ghoo, she has a rational, scientific mind, but has all the knowledge and skills to fight her way out of a tough situation.

The professional Ghoul-hunter, tough and street-wise, and his skill sets tend to give him the edge over other humans in the battle against the Ghoul threat.

The commander of the Aberration Deterrent and Eradication Forces, or ADEF. His military skill set, discipline and high rank, give him special privilege and training that help in the battle.

GHOULASH includes two types of cards: The color-coded Character Decks, which are used by the players, and the Encounter Deck, which represents the building through which the players must journey in search of Ghouls to battle.

Throughout the game players maintain a hand of seven cards from their Character Deck, replenishing at the beginning of each turn.

Here's how it works:

1. Place the Encounter Deck in the center of the playing area. Separate it into four stacks called Corridors.

2. To "move," players flip over cards on the top of any Corridor. Players continue to move until they've flipped four cards or until they have an Encounter (anything that's not an open Corridor card).

3. A player who encounters a Ghoul must fight it, attempting to beat the Ghoul's strength (the large, white number) with Value cards from their hand. In this case, for instance, 8 beats 6.

4. Opponents can challenge the player's battle by playing Value cards of their own. (In this case the high challenge is 3.) If the player can meet the challenge (playing another 3, for instance), they win the battle.

5. The first player to earn 10 Victory Points, represented by the green dots on the bottom of the Ghoul cards, wins the game.

6. Along the way, players also will encounter Holes, Debris and the hapless Bystanders. Bystanders get in the way, but they have rewards for the Ghoul Fighters who help them.

GHOULASH is a game of card strategy and card economy. It's all about keeping the important cards in your hand. Unfortunately, however, the game is filled with all sorts of sneaky ways to take cards from you!

GHOULASH: The Last Game on Earth is a fast-paced, action-packed strategy game that your whole family will love! It's recommended for ages 10 and older and takes 30-45 minutes to play.

Mike Suchcicki and Joe Suchcicki are the creators and publishers of GHOULASH: The Last Game on Earth. Together they form Ghoulash Games, a small, father-son boutique game publisher in Pensacola, Florida.

They're not major players in the game industry; they're not really that much into networking, other than Joe's regular sessions with his gaming groups. They rarely get out of Pensacola.

For years, Mike was adamant about keeping GHOULASH as a simple pen-and-paper game. In 2012, however, Joe showed him a prototype for a board game version, and Mike was hooked. The two later refined the board game version into the card game (but the board game might still see the light of day).

While running far behind the big dogs in the tabletop gaming world, Mike and Joe have intense pride in their games and in the exciting mythology they've built around it. They're currently designing a second edition of the card game and preparing a new edition of the paper game. In addition, Mike is hard at work on a GHOULASH novel, and the two have commissioned sample pages of a proposed GHOULASH comic book.

They love to hear from players of GHOULASH, so feel free to contact them!